The size of False Bay makes the systematic survey of the entire area an impractical project. The bay does contain several areas whose surface features suggest that they might contain different communities. We chose, therefore, to select four of these areas.  Within each area we characterized the physical environment and the fauna in a variety of ways.

Physical environment

• Temperature readings in the top 20 cm during low tide:  We used a temperature probe to take temperature readings of the surface air, surface water, and surface sediment, as well as sediment temperatures in the upper 20 cm. We attempted to take readings on warm, sunny days in order to get a sense of the greatest temperature variation experienced by organisms.

• Sieving to determine particle sizes in each area:  We took samples of surface sediment back to the lab in order to determine particle sizes in each environment. These allow a measure of relative water energy during high tide, as well as characterizing the sediment in which most of the organisms are living.

Biology

• Characterization of communities:

Rare Organisms:
We made a list of all organisms observed in each environment, whether or not they were observed during controlled collecting.

Counts of organisms obtained in sieves:
We counted the number of specimens of each type observed after the surface sediment was collected with a shovel and sifted through 1 mm or 2 mm sieves.

Transects for counting burrows exposed at the surface:
We set up small temporary plots (0.5 m by 2 m) along sections of sand in the Lugworm and Sandbar areas in order to count burrows of each type exposed at the surface.
 

• Laboratory observations in a worm farm